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HOW DO I BUY ART ONLINE?

Carshalton Artists have artists’ profile pages with three images from each artist to give you a flavour of what their work is about. So you like a piece of work or an artist? Then use the links on the artist profile page to go to their website or social media pages to see more of their work and contact them. All our artists will have a ‘contact me’ option on their websites and social media pages and will be more than happy to help.

 

CAN I VIEW WORK BEFORE I BUY IT?

Art is such an important purchase. A personal viewing can be arranged if you are near, or wiling to travel to the artists studio or willing and near enough for them to travel to you. I have arranged doorstep visits both at my studio and round clients’ houses, just for that final view. The Carshalton Artists have even sold art from our front windows as part of the open windows celebration in CAOS 2020. In more difficult times or if you are a distance away from the artist, viewing the work in person can be hard, but for large sculptural, ceramic or flat pieces there is still Zoom or other video conferencing calls you can use and the artist could give you a ‘tour’ around the piece.

 

HOW DO I PAY?

This can be a very daunting prospect, but why? You can contact the artist, discuss and reserve a piece of work, pay for it and have it safely delivered to place you want. Payments are always made directly to the artist and this can be set up when you contact the artist at a method to suit you both.  There are also other ways to buy their work, for example is the piece you like on their website shop, as may artists now have shops on their websites. You could be viewing and buying your work within seconds of your first viewing! However, if you feel uncomfortable you only need to contact the artist and arrange a payment and delivery process that is comfortable to you,

 

THE ARTIST HAS ONLINE MARKETPLACE ON THEIR WEBSITE?

Shops on artist’s websites can be fun, relaxing places to shop for fabulous and affordable art. Here artists can sell their work directly to collectors from their website. This can be in the form of a simple click on their website that takes you through to an online gallery and shop with secure payment page or to and online marketplace elsewhere like Etsy (see below). All artists using their own websites to sell their work will have secure payment pages and some will also have options to buy through a secure third party like PayPal. Again, if you feel uncomfortable you only need to contact the artist and arrange a payment process that is comfortable to you,

 

THE ARTIST HAS ONLINE MARKET PLACE LIKE ETSY?

Online marketplaces are platforms that artists can use to market and sell their work directly to collectors (usually in exchange for a small commission on any sales from the host).

 

Etsy is one of the biggest online marketplaces and a growing number of artists are selling on Etsy as a way of testing the market for selling their work. Etsy is now one of the best places to find affordable art on a small to large budget and many of our artists use it. You can feel extra good about buying art from Etsy too knowing that a tidy 97% of what you pay goes directly to our artist. Folksy is a similar marketplace, some artists use it and it is worth having a look at. It’s easy to overlook eBay when looking for websites to buy original art and artists do use it. EBay can be a fantastic resource for buying a wide range of art long sold out everywhere else.

 

CHECK OUT THE ARTISTS WORK ON SOCIAL MEDIA

So how do you find Carshalton Artists to follow on social media? Most of the artists on Carshalton Artists have links to their social media pages on their profile pages.

 

Social media is now one of the best channels for finding new work and connecting with artists whose work you’d like to buy. Artists often use Instagram to run live workshops and even hosting auctions for artwork. Followers can leave a comment on these feeds with questions about the work, how to buy it and even placing bids on auctions with the highest bid at the closing date getting the painting.  While some artists sell their work directly through social media most artists use it to announce new work and link back to their personal website or online gallery so you can buy it there. Many of our artists have Instagram, Facebook or Twitter accounts with images of latest work alongside photos and video clips that give you a sense of tastes and influences. If you see a new work you’d like to buy you’re probably just a comment or direct message away from purchasing an original piece of work before it’s even made it to a gallery. Believe me, artists LOVE getting messages from people interested in buying their work. It allows us to keep doing what we love to do. So don’t be shy and introduce yourself to the artists you’re interested in. We live in a time when social media makes that easier than it’s ever been.

 

Our Top 3 Social Media Sites

1. Instagram

2. Twitter

3. Facebook